The Motor Vehicle Census 9309.0.55.003 microdata will be available through TableBuilder on the 28 August 2014.

ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION

This publication presents statistics relating to vehicles which were registered at 31 January 2014 with a motor vehicle registration authority. Motor vehicle registration statistics reflect the information as recorded in registration documents.

Statistics are provided on vehicle types comprising passenger vehicles, campervans, light commercial vehicles, trucks, buses and motor cycles. Vehicle characteristic information includes make of vehicle, year of manufacture, type of fuel that the vehicle was registered as using, and Gross Vehicle Mass or Gross Combination Mass for trucks. The size of the motor vehicle fleet is also compared with the estimated resident population.

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.

SUMMARY COMMENTARY

TOTAL NUMBER OF VEHICLES ON REGISTER

At the time of the 2014 Motor Vehcile Census (MVC), there were 17.6 million motor vehicles, including Motor cycles, registered in Australia. This is 2.6% higher than the number of registrations for 2013 and an increase of 12.5% since 2009. The average annual growth rate over the five years to 2014 was 2.5%.

TYPE OF VEHICLE(a), Census years 2009, 2013 and 2014

2009

2013

2014

Change 09/14

Change 13/14

Average annual growth 09/14(b)

no.

no.

no.

%

%

%

Passenger vehicles

12 023 098

13 000 021

13 297 260

10.6

2.3

2.1

Campervans

46 535

54 101

55 757

19.8

3.1

3.8

Light commercial vehicles

2 371 082

2 717 673

2 824 052

19.1

3.9

3.7

Light rigid trucks

110 763

131 147

135 658

22.5

3.4

4.3

Heavy rigid trucks

310 939

325 998

329 464

6.0

1.1

1.2

Articulated trucks

81 217

90 904

93 853

15.6

3.2

3.0

Non-freight carrying vehicles

22 299

22 986

23 144

3.8

0.7

0.8

Buses

84 413

93 034

94 131

11.5

1.2

2.3

Motor cycles

624 090

744 732

780 174

25.0

4.8

4.7

Total motor vehicles

15 674 436

17 180 596

17 633 493

12.5

2.6

2.5

(a) Refer to Glossary for definition of vehicle types.

(b) Refer to Glossary for definition of Average annual growth.

Motor cycles, Light rigid trucks and Campervans were the vehicle types experiencing the largest growth rate over the five years between 2009 and 2014 with increases of 25.0%, 22.5% and 19.8% respectively.

Type of vehicle (a), Percent change - Between census years 2009 and 2014

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FLEET

Across Australia, Passenger vehicles accounted for 75.4% of all vehicles registered for the 2014 MVC. All states and territories have experienced a decrease in the proportion of Passenger vehicles in their fleet over the 5 year period 2009 to 2014. The decrease in the proportion of Passenger vehicles has been offset by increases in the proportion of Light commercial vehicles, Heavy rigid trucks, Buses and Motor cycles in each jurisdiction.

Light commercial vehicles accounted for 16.0% of all vehicles registered in Australia for the 2014 MVC.

In the 2014 MVC, Motor cycles made up 4.4% of all vehicles registered in Australia, up from 4.0% in 2009.

Rigid trucks accounted for 2.6% of the total number of vehicles registered in 2014 decreasing slightly from 2.7% in 2009. Registrations of Light rigid trucks have increased by 22.5% since 2009, while registrations of Heavy rigid trucks have increased by 6.0% over the same period.

For the 2014 MVC, Articulated trucks only accounted for 0.5% of the total number of registered vehicles in Australia.

STATES AND TERRITORIES

The distribution of the vehicle fleet across the states/territories reflects the population distribution. New South Wales had the largest share of the Australian fleet in the 2014 MVC with 5.1 million vehicles or 28.9% of all registered vehicles. Victoria had the second largest share with nearly 4.5 million vehicles (25.4%) followed by Queensland with 3.7 million vehicles (21.0%). The Northern Territory had the smallest share with 0.2 million registered vehicles (0.9%).

State of Registration, Census years 2009, 2013 and 2014

2009

2013

2014

Change 09/14

Change 13/14

Average annual growth 09/14(a)

no.

no.

no.

%

%

%

New South Wales

4 567 386

4 984 557

5 102 352

11.7

2.4

2.3

Victoria

4 010 276

4 383 634

4 483 098

11.8

2.3

2.3

Queensland

3 283 243

3 606 121

3 705 400

12.9

2.8

2.5

South Australia

1 208 926

1 298 404

1 326 232

9.7

2.1

1.9

Western Australia

1 828 346

2 048 388

2 142 307

17.2

4.6

3.3

Tasmania

400 516

436 999

442 575

10.5

1.3

2.1

Northern Territory

128 758

148 569

152 177

18.2

2.4

3.5

Australian Capital Territory

246 985

273 924

279 352

13.1

2.0

2.6

Australia

15 674 436

17 180 596

17 633 493

12.5

2.6

2.5

(a) Refer to Glossary for definition of Average annual growth.

The Northern Territory recorded the largest growth (18.2%) in fleet size over the 5 year period 2009 to 2014 with an annual average increase of 3.5%. This was followed by Western Australia (17.2%) with an annual average increase of 3.3% and the Australian Capital Territory (13.1%) with an annual increase of 2.6%.

Over the same five year period, South Australia had the smallest growth in fleet size (9.7%), with an average annual increase of 1.9%.

Of all states and territories, Western Australia and the Northern Territory recorded the largest increases (14.4% each) in the proportion of Passenger vehicles in their fleets from 2009 to 2014. Over the same period, South Australia recorded the lowest increase (8%).

Since 2009, the Northern Territory had the largest percentage growth in Light commercial vehicles (26.6%), followed by the Australian Capital Territory (24.4%) and Western Australia (22.2%). Tasmania had the smallest growth (15.8%).

VEHICLES AND RESIDENT POPULATION

In Australia there were 756 motor vehicles per 1,000 Estimated Resident Population in the 2014 MVC. This compares with 730 vehicles per 1,000 population in 2009, an increase of 26 vehicles per 1,000 population over this time.

Tasmania had the greatest number of vehicles per 1,000 population of all states and territories in 2014 with 861, followed by Western Australia with 840 per 1,000 population. In 2009, Western Australia had the highest rate with 828 vehicles per 1,000 population, followed by Tasmania with 798 per 1,000 population.

For the 2014 MVC, the Northern Territory had the lowest number of vehicles per 1,000 population of all states and territories with 627.

In 2014, the average age of all vehicles registered in Australia was 10.0 years for the fifth consecutive MVC. Over the five year period from 2009, Campervans were the only vehicle categories to record a decrease in average age. Campervans decreased by 0.5 years. Over the same period, Motor cycles and Articulated trucks increased in average age by 0.8 years and 0.7 years respectively.

AVERAGE VEHICLE AGE(a) OF REGISTERED VEHICLES, Census years(b)

TYPE OF FUEL

Australia wide there were 13.9 million petrol powered vehicles registered in 2014 accounting for 78.8% of the total vehicle fleet.

In comparison there were 3.3 million diesel powered vehicles accounting for 18.5% of the fleet.

Over the five year period from 2009, the number of Passenger vehicles and Light Commercial vehicles registered with diesel fuel increased by 103.6% and 65.4% respectively.

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